San Francisco Chronicle: World

1 Refugees rescued: Spain’s maritime rescue service has saved more than 600 refugees trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Morocco in the past 24 hours, making it one of its busiest days so far this year.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — Secretary-General Antonio Guterres says in a draft report that the Saudi-led coalition was responsible for more than half the children killed and injured in Yemen's civil war last year.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — North Korea warned the United States that it will never put its nuclear weapons program on the negotiating table as long as the Trump administration keeps up its "hostile policy and nuclear threat."
The warning came from North Korea's deputy U.N.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The memorial site of Auschwitz-Birkenau is weighing in on the anti-Semitic and racially charged violence that has erupted in the United States, noting that hatred comes from people who promote it.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. and Japanese defense chiefs and top diplomats are meeting in Washington to discuss North Korea amid mixed messages from the Trump administration on how to deal with the nuclear and missile threat.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

MADRID (AP) — Spain's maritime rescue service has saved more than 600 migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Morocco in the past 24 hours, making it one of its busiest days so far this year.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

LONDON (AP) — Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has gained a place at the University of Oxford.
The 20-year-old education activist tweeted her acceptance to the school, saying she was "so excited" to win a spot to study philosophy, politics and economics.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

BARCELONA, Spain — The driver of a van plowed into a crowd enjoying a peaceful, sunny afternoon on a pedestrianized stretch of Barcelona’s most famous street Thursday, killing at least 12 people and leaving 80 others lying bloodied on the pavement amid wrecked kiosks, in what Spanish authorities said was a terrorist attack.

FREETOWN, Sierra Leone — The government has begun burying the 350 people killed earlier this week in mudslides in Sierra Leone’s capital, and it warned Thursday of new danger from a large crack that has opened on a mountainside where residents were told to evacuate.

BEIJING — President Trump’s administration plunged the United States’ Asian alliances into new confusion Thursday with conflicting signals over how to counter North Korea’s nuclear threat, as the chief White House strategist said a military solution is impossible.

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — The Latest on the van that ran into a crowd in Barcelona's Las Ramblas district (all times local):
6:30 p.m.
A Barcelona broadcaster is reporting that a man thought to be the driver of a van that drove into pedestrians is held up in a bar that is surrounded by police.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) — The Central Asian country of Turkmenistan has tightened entry rules as part of enhanced security for an international sports event.
The restrictions effective Thursday have been announced by President Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has arrived in South Africa as his wife is accused of assaulting a young model.
Mugabe flew into Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria with his entourage late Wednesday night, apparently to help his wife with the ongoing scandal.

HONG KONG (AP) — A court on Thursday overturned sentences that the prosecution said were too light and sent young Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong and two other student leaders of huge pro-democracy protests in 2014 to prison.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel's prime minister is coming under growing criticism for his relative silence over President Donald Trump's response to the racially charged violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Benjamin Netanyahu's muted response to the march staged by anti-Semitic white nationalists — and Trump's assertion that "both sides" were responsible for the violence — appears to reflect the Israeli leader's desire to remain in the good graces of the embattled U.S.

CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela’s high court issued an arrest order for the ousted chief prosecutor’s husband Thursday after authorities accused him of running a $6 million extortion ring, a ruling promptly denounced by government critics as a move aimed at silencing opponents of President Nicolas Maduro.

HONG KONG — A Hong Kong court sent young activist Joshua Wong and two other student leaders to prison Thursday for their roles in huge pro-democracy protests nearly three years earlier, in the latest sign that tolerance for dissent is waning in the Chinese-ruled former British colony.

LISBON, Portugal (AP) — The Latest on wildfires in Europe (all times local):
4:10 p.m.
Portugal's Interior Ministry says police have arrested 91 people — a record number — this year on suspicion of being behind a spate of wildfires.

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An American soldier was killed and several others were wounded in a battle with Islamic State militants in eastern Afghanistan, the U.S. military said.
The military said in a statement that several Afghan forces were also wounded in the fighting on Wednesday in the Achin district of the Nangarhar province, a militant stronghold.

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — The Latest on the assault allegation against Zimbabwe first lady Grace Mugabe (all times local):
2:45 p.m.
South Africa's police minister says a "red alert" has been issued to prevent Zimbabwe first lady Grace Mugabe from leaving the country before she settles the accusation that she assaulted a young model.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi Arabia said Thursday it is reopening its border with Qatar to allow Qataris to attend the hajj amid a monthslong rift between the neighboring countries that led to both sides trading accusations of politicizing the ritual.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share

BRUSSELS (AP) — The International Criminal court ruled Thursday that a Muslim radical found guilty of destroying World Heritage cultural sites in the Malian city of Timbuktu should get nine years in prison and pay 2.7 million euros ($3.2 million) in reparations.More | Talk | Read It Later | Share